Various carriers, carts, wheel chairs and portable sleds are known as aids to personal mobility and likely include the following key functional elements: light weight, compact size, and versatile use.
Prior configurations of carts have been largely impractical with unstable rolling dynamics. Their use has been limited to use on flat, smooth and hard surfaces. Very few attempts have been made to provide compensation for irregular, soft surfaces, while remaining stable over a rolling speed range from walking pace to that of a jogging pace.
Even fewer attempts have been directed to portable assemblies adapted to be used as a sled-wagon combination, such as a tote-sled assembly. This type of portable carrying assembly is particularly convenient during summer time when parents bring their small children to the sand beaches. Typically, the beaches are wide and people, preferring to stay near the water, have to walk substantial distances. Having a toddler, bags filled with different beach paraphernalia, and the like makes such trips burdensome. Known tote-assemblies are typically equipped with small wheels which are totally useless on sand or even on uneven sandy roads of the countryside.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,748 to Johnson discloses a structure that is designed to overcome the above-discussed problems. Specifically, this patent discloses a portable kit including a pair of runners shaped to slide upon a soft surface, a pair of rigid connectors serving as axles for rotatable wheels and an upright frame that is detachably mounted on the runners.
The above described structure can be successfully used on both hardened and soft surfaces, although the wheels having a smooth periphery may have a problem of engaging an uneven surface thereby complicating displacement of the structure.
While the disclosed structure is portable and can be relatively easy to disassemble, the overall size of the disassembled structure is still substantial enough to take up a space when loaded in a trunk. Particularly, a length of the runners that can be a few feet long may be problematic in a limited space of a car trunk, which is typically small.
Also, since separate parts are typically screwed to one another, it may take some time to completely disassemble the structure disclosed in Johnson. As a consequence, the height of this structure may create additional problems.
What is desired, therefore, is a tote-sled assembly that can be effectively used both on malleable and hardened surfaces. Providing a tote-sled assembly that can be disassembled in a time-efficient manner to fit the interior of a car trunk is also desired, as is a tote-sled assembly, which has parts, characterized by a small size upon complete disassemblage.